Palestinians head to Cairo for talks
Talks have so far failed to produce any breakthrough since Israel resumed its air and ground assault on Gaza from March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire. "The delegation will meet with Egyptian officials to discuss new ideas aimed at reaching a ceasefire," the Hamas official said, adding the team included the group's chief negotiator Khalil al Hayya.
The discussions will come a day after newly appointed US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged Hamas to accept a deal that would secure the release of hostages in exchange for humanitarian aid entering Gaza. Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli air strikes killed at least 26 people across the territory on Tuesday. — AFP
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Times of Oman
7 hours ago
- Times of Oman
Fact check: Are X's community notes fueling misinformation?
New York: On July 9, the US government sanctioned United Nations Human Rights Council special rapporteur Francesca Albanese for what the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said was a "campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States." Albanese has consistently denounced Israel's actions in Gaza since its offensive against the Palestinian group Hamas began in October 2023, as well as the Trump administration's efforts to suppress dissenting voices critical of Israel. The announcement was rejected by the UN, which called for a reversal of the sanctions, and it also prompted a debate online, where Albanese's name began to trend on X (formerly Twitter). Posts poured in both defending and criticizing her work, accompanied in several cases by "Community Notes," X's signature tool to fight misinformation. The notes, which are essentially brief clarifications or extra context attached to posts, can be submitted by anyone. X claims it uses what it calls a "bridging algorithm" to prevent bias, lending more weight to upvotes from users with historically different viewpoints and thus theoretically reducing the chance that a single group can dominate the narrative. But that doesn't make them immune from error. In the case of Albanese, for instance, one community note claimed that "Francesca Albanese is not a lawyer," amplifying arguments by her critics about her qualifications and "ethical conduct." While Albanese did admit in an interview with Vanity Fair that she didn't take the bar exam, which would have qualified her as a practising attorney, she did study law. Her official profile on the website of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) describes her as an "international lawyer" who has authored publications on International Law. What this example shows is that while community notes can be a valuable tool to reduce the spread of disinformation, they are not always accurate and often fail to paint the whole picture. Notes are meant to be a system where users collaboratively add context and verify facts. Research from Cornell University has shown that notes on inaccurate posts on X help to reduce reposts and increase the likelihood that the original author deletes the post. However, according to an analysis of X data by NBC News, the number of community notes being published are declining in number, and DW Fact check spotted several examples of the tool misleading users instead of helping them spot falsehoods. Misleading community notes slipping through In July 2025, a post by Sky News quoting the United Kingdom's Metropolitan Police chief went viral, accumulating over 4.7 million views. The post linked to a Sky News article based on an interview with the police chief, which highlighted structural inequality, noting it was "shameful" that black boys in London were statistically more likely to die young than white boys. The community note was then added; however, it was reframed, stating: "The headline lacks the essential context that despite making up only 13% of London's total population, Black Londoners account for 45% of London's knife murder victims, 61% of knife murder perpetrators, and 53% of knife crime perpetrators." While factually correct, the note introduced unrelated crime statistics from 2022 — subtly shifting the focus from systemic inequality to framing black boys as perpetrators of crime. Instead of clarifying the issue, the note distorted the original message, misleading users who hadn't actually clicked on the link in the post. Community notes and elections Another problem was spotted by experts during the 2024 US Presidential elections. Researchers Alexios Mantzarlis and Alex Mahadevan from the Florida-based Poynter Institute analysed community notes posted on Election Day. Their goal was to assess whether community notes were helping counter election misinformation or not. Their findings raised concerns. Out of all fact-checkable posts analyzed, only 29% carried a community note rated as "helpful." In X's system, a note is rated "helpful" when it is upvoted by a diverse group of contributors and prioritised for public display. But of these "helpful" notes, only 67% actually addressed content that was fact-checkable. In other words, nearly a third of the notes that appeared as helpful were attached to posts that didn't contain factual claims at all. The researchers saw this as a problem of low precision and recall: too few misleading posts were getting corrected, and even when notes appeared, many weren't targeting actual misinformation. As Poynter noted, "This is not the kind of precision and recall figures that typically get a product shipped at a Big Tech platform." Meanwhile, Germany's Alexander von Humboldt Institut für Internet und Gesellschaft, a research institute based in Berlin analyzed nearly 9,000 community notes in the run-up to the country's federal elections in February this year, and found that "community notes follow political patterns." The institute said, "Users who write notes are not free of political views. Their assessments and comments may therefore be influenced by their own interests or ideological biases." Poynter's Mahadevan explained in an interview with DW's fact-checking team how people may be gaming the system: when someone new joins Community Notes, X assumes they're unbiased because they haven't rated many notes yet.
Observer
2 days ago
- Observer
Filmmakers try to cash in on India-Pakistan battle
Mumbai - Indian filmmakers are locking up the rights to movie titles that can profit from the patriotism fanned by a four-day conflict with Pakistan, which killed more than 70 people. The nuclear-armed rivals exchanged artillery, drone, and air strikes in May, after India blamed Pakistan for an armed attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. The fighting came to an end when US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire. Now, some Bollywood filmmakers see an opportunity to cash in on the battle. India tagged its military action against Pakistan 'Operation Sindoor', the Hindi word for vermilion, which married Hindu women wear on their foreheads. The name was seen as a symbol of Delhi's determination to avenge those widowed in the April 22 attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam, which sparked the hostilities. Film studios have registered a slew of titles evoking the operation, including: 'Mission Sindoor', 'Sindoor: The Revenge', 'The Pahalgam Terror', and 'Sindoor Operation'. "It's a story which needs to be told," said director Vivek Agnihotri. "If it were Hollywood, they would have made 10 films on this subject. People want to know what happened behind the scenes," he told AFP. Agnihotri struck box office success with his 2022 release, "The Kashmir Files", based on the mass flight of Hindus from Kashmir in the 1990s. - Coloured narratives - The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party gave that film a glowing endorsement, despite accusations that it aimed to stir up hatred against India's minority. Since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014, some critics say Bollywood is increasingly promoting his government's ideology. Raja Sen, a film critic and screenwriter, said filmmakers felt emboldened by an amenable government. "We tried to wage a war, and then we quietened down when Trump asked us to. So what is the valour here?" Sen told AFP of the Pakistan clashes. Anil Sharma, known for directing rabble-rousing movies, criticised the apparent rush to make films related to the Pahalgam attack. "This is herd mentality... these are seasonal filmmakers, they have their constraints," he said. "I don't wait for an incident to happen and then make a film based on that. A subject should evoke feelings and only then cinema happens," said Sharma. Sharma's historical action flick "Gadar: Ek Prem Katha" (2001) and its sequel "Gadar 2" (2023), both featuring Sunny Deol in lead roles, were big hits. In Bollywood, filmmakers often seek to time releases for national holidays like Independence Day, which are associated with heightened patriotic fervour. "Fighter", featuring big stars Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, was released on the eve of India's Republic Day on January 25 last year. - Anti-Muslim bias - Though not a factual retelling, it drew heavily from India's 2019 airstrike on Pakistan's Balakot. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews but raked in $28 million in India, making it the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of that year. This year, "Chhaava", a drama based on the life of Sambhaji Maharaj, a ruler of the Maratha Empire, became the highest-grossing film so far this year. It also generated significant criticism for fuelling anti-Muslim bias. "This is at a time when cinema is aggressively painting Muslim kings and leaders in violent light," said Sen. "This is where those who are telling the stories need to be responsible about which stories they choose to tell." Sen said filmmakers were reluctant to choose topics that are "against the establishment". "If the public is flooded with dozens of films that are all trying to serve an agenda, without the other side allowed to make itself heard, then that propaganda and misinformation enters the public psyche," he said. Acclaimed director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra said true patriotism is promoting peace and harmony through the medium of cinema. Mehra's socio-political drama "Rang De Basanti" (2006) won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film and was chosen as India's official entry for the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. "How we can arrive at peace and build a better society? How can we learn to love our neighbours?" he asked. "For me that is patriotism."
Observer
2 days ago
- Observer
Countries airdrop food as many die of malnutrition
The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Oman Charitable Organization (OCO), has so far donated more than $31 million in the form of aid, as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a partner of the World Health Organization (WHO), announced that the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza Strip, according to the report published by the OCO. The OCO is in direct and continuous coordination with the relevant authorities inside the Gaza Strip and the organisation has had an office and staff inside the Strip that has been overseeing its projects for more than 15 years, in addition to another office in West Bank. 'We have been coordinating with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and in cooperation with the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in Cairo, Egyptian Red Crescent Society and Jordanian Red Crescent Society, we ensure the receipt and distribution of aid according to clear mechanisms and field and administrative understandings that guarantee integrity and fairness, with full documentation of all stages', said Badr bin Mohammed al Zaabi, Acting CEO of OCO. Besides, the authority conducts regular weekly follow-ups with relevant partners, confirming that its relief and medical stocks are fully prepared for immediate action whenever the opening of the crossings is announced. Meanwhile, relief supplies involving 126 pallets of food from six countries were dropped over the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said on social media. Germany, Spain, France, Jordan, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates participated in the coordinated action, the post said. German aircraft dropped 34 pallets containing nearly 14 tonnes of food and medical equipment over the blockaded coastal area on the Mediterranean, according to the German Defence Ministry in Berlin. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said airdrops are at least 100 times more expensive than transporting the same amount of goods by land. Earlier, Hamas said that it would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established — a fresh rebuke to a key Israeli demand to end the war in Gaza. Last Tuesday, Qatar and Egypt, who are mediating ceasefire efforts, endorsed a declaration by France and Saudi Arabia outlining steps towards a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and saying that as part of this Hamas must hand over its arms to the Palestinian Authority.
